A 67-year-old Berkeley man’s month in jail for violating toxic waste laws is encouraging news for city and county officials who want more workplace whistle blowers to bring them environmental justice cases.

But Gary Reopelle, a silversmith who has owned Monsen Plating on Adeline Street since 1964, said his conviction and time behind bars are the result of overzealous toxic avengers who likely will put him out of business very soon.

Reopelle spent 28 days in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in September for violating felony probation from a toxic waste dumping conviction in 2003. That conviction was the result of the whistle blower’s actions.

“We are very eager to get whistle blowers to come to us about any business,” said Nabil Al-Hadithy, hazardous materials manager for Berkeley. “We are encouraging them. This (whistle blower) was very nervous and without having him come to the city, we would have had a harder time catching (Reopelle).”

Reopelle remains indignant, even though he admits he was guilty of putting toxic waste, such as acid and heavy metals, directly into the sewer system when it should have been shipped off to a processing facility to make it inert.

He also admits to dumping toxic waste at Berkeley’s garbage transfer station.

“It’s Berkeley,” Reopelle said. “I’ve been in business 40-something years, and they throw me in jail. I’ve had a nice little business here.

“They hire these inspectors right out of school and get someone who is anti-whatever it is and they go after you. That’s what happened here. I’m bummed out.”

Reopelle landed in jail for violating his five-year felony probation in June, for failing to label acid treatment tanks, storing too much toxic waste on site, and not keeping logs on toxic-waste treatment procedures, Al-Hadithy said.

The plating process uses large vats of acid, cyanide and metals like silver, gold, bronze and copper.

In 2003, an employee of his company alerted officials in Berkeley that Reopelle was putting acid and toxic waste directly into his sewer line.

A sting operation involving the Alameda County District Attorney, the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Fish and Game and Berkeley Police caught him in the act.

Inspectors also videotaped him dumping toxic waste mixed with sawdust at the Berkeley garbage transfer station.

Alyce Sandbach, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the original case and sent Reopelle to jail in September, said if jail is what it takes to clean up the environment, it’s OK with her.

“Even though there are far more serious crimes in Alameda County like rapes and murders, the courts are not tolerating environmental violators and they are serious enough about it to put someone in jail,” Sandbach said. “He was on notice that he could serve jail time. When there’s no other way to get compliance, I don’t feel bad about it. So I hope more people come forward.”

Reopelle said the terms of his latest probation require him to hire an environmental consultant to make sure he follows regulations. That will cost him $1,000 a month.

“The regulations will put us out of business,” Reopelle said. “It gets to a point that, hey, you’re 67 years old, what the hell are you doing? This kind of business never hurt anyone. We restore grandpa’s old tea pot.”

Reopelle said he mixed some toxic waste in sawdust because he had heard that is a good way to get rid of it. He also doesn’t think that sending toxic waste to the sewer treatment plant hurts anything (Al-Hadithy said it interferes with the process of treating human waste).

“People are taught that these chemicals are going to destroy the world,” Reopelle said incredulously.